I recently met and older version of myself at a Christmas party.  He and his wife have mutual friends and he was in his mid 40’s and well dressed.  I wasn’t until later in the evening that I found out that he was the regional manager of Harry Rosen.  I laughed and said that my dream job would be to own an old school apothecary… a cool barber shop that had unique colognes, men’s products.  It would be the best thing I could think of next to the position I have right now.  I had a great conversation about things that had that “old school” cool or classic element of style.  So I followed that up on Saturday with a visit to Knifewear in the Inglewood community of Calgary.  Now this place sells Japanese knives, but in the back they have a section of straight razors, hard to find aftershaves, badger brushes, and mug soaps.  WICKED.

And this started to make me think.  It was something that I would not talk about much, but I have a few little things that I love outside of my family and my career.  I am not going to pretend that I have a great sense of style but I do well for myself.  It started many years ago when I got my first Men’s Health magazine and took off from there.  At 15 I got my first real cologne… a blue bottle of Polo Ralph Lauren Sport.  And the love affair took off from there.  Over the years I developed a schema of what it was to have my own personal style.  Over the years I grew a love for unique colognes, and studied the components, the notes and houses that create the great colognes.  I gravitated to the House of Creed, Le Labo and the newly launched Tom Ford private blend.  I garnered an obsession with salvage denim jeans.  I spend $60 on a cab ride in New York just to visit World Brand Jean Shop in New York where they make custom jeans.  Great shoes and as some know coloured laces are just part and parcel of the ideal I have developed.  I find these things fun to learn and research about.   Watching Skyfall inspired me to attempt to shave with a straight razor.  Now the art of shaving is a ritual, not just something that I do.

So what does this have to do with a site about performance and training?  People spend countless hours training to, as one gym puts it… “Look Good Naked”.  That’s a great concept and I too train to look good naked.  But in reality what percent in the case of guys are you walking around with your shirt off?  Yes you workout but I always look back to the little old men who get up and still put on their suit with no where to go.  It is about dressing to represent you.  Taking pride, and when you dress well, you carry yourself with a different swagger.  You have a greater sense of confidence when you are dressed up.  And I am not talking about a suit like a scene out of Mad Men.  And you do not have to dress to break the bank.  It is about some simple staples, like the feeling of putting on a good pair of jeans that fit.  You should not have to pull your pants up or your shirt down.  Tossing on a pair of old school Chuck Taylors.  American classics.  It is about pride.  Not in a boastful but in a way that shows you carry yourself with class.  And that is something that I think has taken a back seat in the past few years.  Something so simple that needs to make a comeback.

I am by no means an expert. And nor do I pretend to be. But I have been asked in the last few weeks to talk to undergrads thinking about time post graduation, about what it is I do. Yes, I have a unique job. AND I LOVE IT. I like to think that I have had some level of success to make it 10+ years in this career. Sure, there are days that I am frustrated, disappointed, but in general, and you can ask my wife… I love getting up and going to work. I love the teams I am with, and the projects that I am involved with. And I have said this before, and well, I will say it again, the road that I have traveled is a shitty one. I have been asked to be at a career fair in January to speak to a student body and the coordinator asked that I be as honest as possible. So this is a little start to the preparation. There are situations as I move forward in this career that I wish someone would have sat me down, and said, “this is how it is. Suck it up, get used to it or don’t do this at all.” And here we go…

1. Your hours in the first stage of this career will suck.. most cases you will work when others do not. You need to put in extra hours proving you want to be in this career. And at no point should you ever thing a job is below you. I was done my masters, had 8 years of experience and I still did shifts manning a fitness desk handing out equipment. You know why? Because it had to be done… it is called work. Be grateful you are doing what you are doing. The hours can get better.

2. This can be tough on your family. And with the tough hours comes the strain on the family. I was lucky enough to marry a saint who has been patient with me, my career choice and has been one of my biggest supporters. Be realistic and understand the rough spots of the job because you need to be…

3. Patient young grasshopper. If you do all the things that need to be done… put in the time, shadow, volunteer, sacrifice good things happen. Every one wants the corner office. We dream of it. But guess what? There are only 4 corners. There are only so many jobs at the top. And sure you have the skills, the swagger what ever you want to call it. There are still alpha dogs running the show and you have to wait your turn to eat. You do not walk out of school and get handed a team and say run with it. You need to shadow, put in your time learning the dynamics of working with athletes or clients. Things are not just given to you be cause you deserve it, YOU EARN IT. So with that you have to…

4. Champion something… do not be a jack of all trades, master of none. What gets you out of bed in the morning and excited to go to work. And what is going to set you apart from the next kid who just got their degree and is going to be a coach. It is fine to be well versed in the trades but there is a point at which you are dabbling in so many things that you are unfocused. That is what I was like when I was young. It was great to experience many theories but do not try to be so versatile that you become handcuffed by your inability to focus on what matters. Learn to recognize the fly shit from the pepper.

5. Be humble but be confident. This is the one that I wish someone would have told me day one. There are a lot of good people out that and there is more than enough people to work with. There is no need to be guarded about who is working with who. This is one that I still struggle with today and from time to time I need someone to call me out. Be confident in your skills but do not at anytime think what you are doing is so unique that you have to keep it from others. All good coaches are doing something similar… with their own flare. So with that it sometimes means that you need to be a…

6. Coaching ninja – you are a coach. You are not the front and centre of the athletic universe. You are there to help that athletes be the front and centre of the athletic universe they are in. YOU ARE SUPPORT STAFF. In reality at the higher levels that athletes is world class for a reason and your contribution yes, plays an important role, but is not as grand as it is in your mind. Coach, but do not look for the immediate glory of coaching. Your glory will come when you see those athletes you are working with compete and be successful.

7. EVERY program needs some form of individualization. You cannot write one program and hand it to a team. It would be beautiful, but your athletes are all different. They have different training ages (years of training) structural tolerance to training loads, etc. So you have to find a way to make that program individualized to each athlete. I work with national water polo and although the program appears to look the same across the board, there are variations for each athlete to accommodate for their individual differences.

8. If you do not understand the program or the athletes back ground, ask. Do not assume that you know. And do not assume that you know your program is working. If you cannot measure it you do not know what the out come is. If you think your programs is successful, measure it and prove it…

9. So there for you cannot believe everything you read on the internet. There are a lot of experts out there. You have to be able to critically evaluate what you read. Any asshole can post to the web… why the best example is the fact that you are reading my material right now.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 3,400 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 6 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Here is an interview I did with Dave Holmes of Cycling Physio.

Dave is one of the smartest guys I have met  and one of the few physios’ I trust to work with my athletes.

Have a view.

http://www.cyclingphysio.com/peakpower.html

Yours in Health and Performance

Jeff Osadec, MKin, CEP, CSCS

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 2,600 times in 2010. That’s about 6 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 30 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 13 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 5mb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was August 8th with 89 views. The most popular post that day was The Simple Approach to Nutrition Part 3.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, thereisabird.blogspot.com, mail.live.com, wedding.ebonito.com, and alphainventions.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for jeff osadec blog, jeff osadec, jeff osadec wordpress, science background, and background science.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

The Simple Approach to Nutrition Part 3 July 2010
2 comments

About April 2010
1 comment

Book List July 2010

Links July 2010

Services July 2010
3 comments

I am going to keep this post brief, but with the New Year quickly approaching I want you to start it out right.  As I have always aimed to educate, I am going to do one better.  I am going to give you your first month of programming for the New Year.  Something you can follow and start off your fitness goals for 2011.  I want this to be your best year, physically, mentally and spiritually.

Just click on the link, New Years Program below.  I hope you enjoy it an find success.

New Years Program

Wishing you all the best in the New Year.

Your s in Health and Performance

Jeff Osadec, MKin CEP CSCS

This is a beautiful version of T’was the Night before Christmas’ from Brooks Kubik, the author of Dinosaur Training.  I believe this will be something I read to my little daughter for years to come.  I hope it brings you as much happiness and holiday cheer as it did for me.

Merry Christmas,

Jeff Osadec, MKin, CEP, CSCS

Deliberate Health and Performance.

 

T’was the Night before Christmas

 

T’was the night before Christmas, when all through the gym,

the lifters were lifting with vigor and vim.

They squatted so heavy the bars were all bending,

as they ground out the reps in the sets never ending.

 

They snatched and they pressed and they cleaned and they jerked,

until all of their muscles were thoroughly worked.

Then they ran to their sandbags and heaved them up high,

then heaved them again – right up into the sky!

 

When out in the back there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the rack to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

 

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

gave a luster of mid-day to objects below.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear

but a bag-flattened sleigh and unconscious reindeer.

 

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

He was hopping and shouting and yelling and screaming.

He wasn’t just hot – he was totally steaming!

 

“You sandbagged my sled!” he cried in dismay.

“And that means you ruined the big Christmas day!

My toys are all broken, there’s no time to fix ‘em –

And look what you did to poor Prancer and Vixen!”

 

The lifters were flummoxed. “We’re sorry!” they cried.

And they picked up the reindeer and brought them inside.

“Quick!” someone shouted, “I know what to do!

We’ll whip up a batch of a high-powered brew!”

 

We started with milk and eggnog and eggs,

and added Hi Protein and poured it in kegs.

We tossed in some chocolate and ice cream for flavor,

Then added some honey, for reindeer to savor.

 

We mixed it together until it was ready,

Then lifted the reindeer and held them all steady.

We gave each performer three cups of the stuff,

Then added another to make it enough.

 

“It’s working!” cried Santa. “They’re coming around!

“That Hi Protein potion is the best to be found!”

He turned to his sled – we had fixed that as well –

if the toys could be fixed, then all would be well.

 

“There’s no time to do it,” said Nicholas, sadly.

“This is one trip that is turning out badly.”

The lifters were quiet and took all the blame,

And hung their heads lower in sorrow and shame.

 

Then Santa bent over and picked up a letter

That lay in the snow, getting wetter and wetter.

The letter said, “Santa, for Christmas I’d like

a whole lot of muscles. Your friend, Little Mike.”

 

“That’s perfect!” I cried. “Here’s a course for the kid!

We’ll send one to each of them!” And that’s what we did.

Each kid got a course and a full set of weights —

barbells, and dumbbells and squat stands and plates!

 

Now Santa was smiling – the good boys and girls

Would soon have their barbells for presses and curls!

The kids would be healthy and happy and strong –

For with barbells and dumbbells you never go wrong.

 

Santa sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

 

So I made these bars on the weekend and made a few additions.

They turned out well, and the athletes that have tried them have all asked for the recipe so here it is.  Easy to make and taste great.

 

Cheers

Coconut Breakfast Bars

Ingredients

1/3 cup brazil nuts

1/3 cup organic raw walnuts

1/3 cup organic raw almonds

1/3 cup organic raw cashews

1/3 cup organic raw sunflower seeds

1/3 cup organic raw pumpkin seeds

1/3 cup organic unsweetened coconut flakes (plus extra to dust top)

1 tsp maca powder

1  tsp cinnamon

1/3 – 2/3 cup organic coconut butter

 

I added…

¼ cup Organic Chocolate Chips

¼ cup Organic Currants

1 Pack Vega Sport Performance Protein – Found at any good health food store or organic market.  Calgary find it at Community Natural Foods

 

 

Directions

Place all nuts, seeds, coconut fl akes, cinnamon and maca in food

processor and grind to a coarse mealy texture. Add coconut butter

and Stevia and regrind. Press mixture in glass Pyrex dish and cut into

bars. Best served cold. Store in freezer.

 

As some of you may have noticed, the name of the blog has changed from “Kundalini Health and Performance” to “Deliberate Heath and Performance”.  This has been a thought process of mine for some time now as my registered personal company is Deliberate Health and Performance. As the logo will not change and the inspiration of the goddess Kundalini ascending to a higher state of enlightenment will be a backbone of the logo and ideals,  the name change was based being true to my passion and beliefs.

Deliberate Health and Performance started in a class led by Dr. David Smith at the University of Calgary.  I am honored to say that I was privileged to have had lectures with Dave, and to have had him sit on my committee for my Masters defense.  Any ways… he presented an article written in 2007 by Ward et. al. where it was stated, “In their original expertise approach, Simon and Chase (1973) suggested that ten years of experience were necessary for attaining expertise (see also Bryan & Harter, 1899). However, Ericsson and others have shown that experience is not a good predictor of, and is often negatively correlated with, skill level (see Ericsson, 2004, 2006; Choudrey et al., 2005). Moreover, Ericsson and Lehmann (1996) found little empirical support for innate differences predicting expert performance and claimed that rather than being a consequence of mere experience, expertise is primarily acquired through extensive involvement in deliberate practice activities (i.e., those activities specifically designed to improve performance) (Ericsson et al., 1993; Ericsson, 2006).

According to Ericsson et al. (1993), deliberate practice is related monotonically to the attainment of expertise.

And that is when it hit me.  Deliberate Health and Performance.  It is hard to come up with a name that stands out, that reflects your beliefs and ideals, but this was it.  Hell, I am a project in deliberate practice… come on, 11 years of university in the process of attaining the knowledge that will eventually lead to world domination (or at least one person mentioning that I am good at what I do).  But for me, Deliberate Health and Performance is based on the ideals that all training, every workout, and practice that my athletes and clients are prescribed are based on having a purpose with intentional results.  And it has been emphasized in this blog many time, from the idea of the black box, being actually very transparent (My Simple Out Look on Crossfit) to testing (If You’re Not Testing You’re Guessing).  So to those of you who have been reading the blog, and following since the beginning, THANK YOU.  The blog will not change, the content will be the same, and the information will always be available for the education of you and others.

I am going to be honest… I have wanted to start this a long time ago, but I was apprehensive.  I always worry about rejection and negativity.  What if someone does’t like what I posted, what if I get negative comments?  Then  I met Josh Rubin, an amazing Holistic Life Coach from San Diego (check out his blog here  http://joshrubin.wordpress.com/ and his websitehttp://www.eastwesthealing.com/ here).  His words of wisdom instilled the confidence I needed to being this site.  Not everyone will like what I write.  Some may react negatively because this site challenges them to rethink what the believe the knew.

This first entry is be brief but lay the foundation for the sites future.  This sites purpose is to provoke thought, educate and facilitate a healthier lifestyle for all those who read it.  Here I will aim to post meaningful information and articles to promote a healthier approach to our life style.  I aim to be an educator and give those who read this the tools to follow their own journey… discover health and truly live life.